Do you feel overwhelmed by the velocity of change concerning AI? Are you wondering what impact ChatGPT and generative AI will have on your work, e.g., your SEO and keyword rankings? Or are you even fearful of adopting AI because it might replace your job as a content writer or inbound marketer?
I hear you!
When ChatGPT was first introduced, I wondered if it would replace search engines entirely and how that would impact content and inbound marketing.
I asked myself: Is it worth spending 5-6 hours and much effort every time to genuinely answer my buyers' questions if someone could just go to a generative AI writing tool like Content At Scale, add a keyword, and get a fully written 2,500-word blog post within minutes? Wouldn't the already saturated market become quickly slammed with AI-generated "blog posts", making what I do for a living no longer matter anymore?
Now that I have spent months trialing, evaluating, and working with dozens of generative AI content marketing tools, I am certain that it is absolutely worthwhile for me and my clients to keep going. In this article, I want to walk you through my thought process and help put your mind at ease if you are sharing the same concerns.
Let's talk about the biggest elephant in the room first: Will AI replace human writers? The short- to mid-term general answer is no. In general, AI content marketing tools will:
However, while AI will not replace good-to-excellent marketers, mediocre marketers that aren't willing to embrace AI will make themselves obsolete and might be replaced by good human content marketers that are AI-savvy.
The second concern for many is: Will marketers use AI to generate such an overwhelming amount of content at scale that it will be impossible to cut through the noise? In other words, why should I bother writing genuine content?
What is Google's number one fear? Think about it! As a search engine, Google's job is to provide you, the searcher, with the most relevant and helpful results in the fastest time possible. But it cannot do that without great content. It's as useless as a baker without the flour to bake their delicious loaves of bread.
As a consumer trying to learn more about a product, solution, or company, you will always rely on content. In fact, according to Impact, 76% of buyers say they rely more on content to research and inform purchase decisions today than in 2020. In addition, a recent survey by the Content Marketing Institute showed that 62% of B2B buyers engage with three to seven pieces of content before connecting with a salesperson.
Google is one of the most powerful AI companies in the world, working in the background for over a decade on Artificial Intelligence. Only last week, the company announced that it will now launch its AI capabilities across Google Workplace, Google Maps, and Google Search.
Therefore, Google would shoot itself in the foot by penalizing AI-created content. Google's official position is that "those seeking success in Google Search should be looking to produce original, high-quality, people-first content demonstrating the qualities of E-E-A-T" (which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) however, that content is produced. In other words, you will be fine if you use AI to assist you to create content as long as it is good content.
Will there be a big rise in Black-Hat SEOs trying to trick the algorithm with AI-created content? Absolutely. Just like keyword stuffing, hidden links, and the creation of crappy backlinks en masse back in the day, there will be people who come up with schemes to create short-term gains.
But the moral of the story is: If you stick with creating high-quality, authentic content based on your expertise and experience while using AI to help you, you will be just fine. Which brings me to the next point:
As a They Ask, You Answer Certified Coach, one of my questions was how this would impact the clients I guide through their mastery journey. They Ask, You Answer is all about becoming the Voice of Trust in your space by answering your customers' questions as honestly and transparently as possible and in an unbiased fashion — providing them with all the information they need to make the right decision for them.
Guess what? If you obsess about that (whether you use AI to help get you there or not), you will do just fine. Just look at Google's "Helpful Content Update" or E-E-A-T. Helpful content created for people will always win.